Week 1
A Bristolian returned, and changing aisles
Hello! And a Happy New Year!
Well. We find ourselves at week 1.
If you are new here, welcome. This is a community of people who love to mark the seasons as they change. We do this on this weekly community post in which I tell you a little thing that felt particular to this week in the year, and then you tell me yours. The comments are a very poetic, fun and supportive place in themselves but I then take these comments and weave them into something special, culminating in the Big, Beautiful Poem of the Year. Join in now and maybe next New Year’s Eve your comment will make it in…
A couple of little bits of admin: if you haven’t caught it yet the first edition of the new series of As the Season Turns, my podcast with Ffern, is out now! In a bit of a coup we have the wonderful Sam Lee as our resident musician this year, and he will be writing and recording a new song especially for each month of the year. It’s so perfect. You can hear his January song at the beginning of the episode. Find it here. You also might enjoy December’s special edition of Found Sounds, As the Season Turns’ sister podcast, in which I am interviewed by Alice Boyd at Stanton Drew Stones, talking about midwinter, megaliths and all things seasonal and almanacy. You’ll find that here.
Finally, I know that many of you first found me and my work via gorgeous Cerys Matthews 6 music show, on which I was resident for a year and have since been back every year. I return this Sunday and will be particularly talking about Epiphany and the 12 days of Christmas, as well of course as talking about my new book, The Almanac 2025. So listen out for that on BBC6 Music on Sunday, sometime between 10am and 1pm.
To business:
A Bristolian returned
We had a party! Many of my New Years Eves have been spent not having a particularly great time, but this was not one of them. My lovely friends and their gorgeous teens joined me and mine and we all whooped it up until the early hours. Games and fun and cocktails and dancing. One of the friends now lives in New Zealand and is one of this substack’s occasional southern hemisphere commenters, hitting us with daffodils as our leaves start to turn brown, so it was extra gorgeous that she flew in on the 30th and then just strolled up to my house at 8pm on New Year’s Eve like she did in the old days when she lives 15 minutes walk away. A truly joyous way to see in the new year.
Changing aisles
I have an extra one too for you this week. On New Year’s Day I like to imagine the world is entirely comprised about 50:50 people snoozing in front of fires and those striding purposefully about the countryside taking deep, cleansing breaths. In my mind places like Tesco don’t really exist and certainly aren’t open and requiring people (who would like to be snoozing/striding) to stock shelves…and yet…we ran out of toothpaste HARD and so there was nothing else for it, and it did mean I witnessed that rarest of phenomena, the changing of the seasonal aisle.
I didn’t see the replacements, but I’m thinking Veganuary/Valentines.
That’s it from me. Please remember that Sunday is the first Sunday of the month and time to start a brand new round of ‘Usual Spot’ in the chat part of the app, in which we take a picture of the same spot once a month and share it. I have been thinking about mine, and it’s about time to snap.
Now, please let us know: what have you done/noticed/seen/eaten this week that felt particularly ‘this week of the year’?
The lights of the City of London at dusk spread on the horizon beneath the clearest of ombre gold and indigo skies, a ruby necklace strung along the skyline, a few stars visible and a perfectly manicured fingernail moon caught in the skeleton branches of a tree.
I watched a squirrel eating camelias, hanging onto the thinnest twigs, he tore the knicker pink flowers off then ate the nectar bearing centre and discarded the petals like confetti.